The increasing complexity of global ecological challenges necessitates the development of systemic thinking and relational awareness in education, particularly in disciplines connected to life sciences. This paper explores how holistic language education, grounded in the principles of edusemiotics, can foster ecological literacy and cultivate learners’ capacity to understand interconnected systems. The paper highlights the need to develop a systemic and relational understanding as the basis underlying the domain of language interactions for the purpose of better integrating sustainable concepts related to the life sciences. Ecological issues and the need to develop critical skills such as ecoliteracy and ecological awareness have become relevant topics in academic environments across disciplines of study, especially in the Life Sciences. Students from the University of Life Sciences ‘King Mihai I’ from Timisoara specializing in fields related to this area of study (agriculture, horticulture, genetics, biology, biotechnologies, food and animal science, veterinary medicine, etc.) are encouraged to grasp the fact that we are not independent of the world around us and we have to take into account that social/cultural/biological entities and phenomena are interrelated at many levels in highly dynamic processes. It is through language and communication that we become capable of making these connections and understanding the relevance of these aspects from a holistic point of view in order to study and to live sustainably. In this context, we infer the need to develop systemic thinking and a relational approach underlying linguistic interactions while learning English for the Life Sciences.

English for Specific Purposes (ESP), ecolinguistics, semiotics, teaching, humanities, life sciences.

environmental engineering

Presentation: poster